บท 23: Pride Goes Before A Fall II
"Don't worry, I need to make you speak. So I won't kill you immediately." Turai's voice registered in Otto's ears just as the boy's fist connected with Otto's chest in a devastating strike.
Bang!
The impact sent a shockwave of pain through Otto's body. The spell he had been preparing fizzled out, the flames dissipating as Otto was thrown backward, crashing to the ground with a force that left him gasping for breath.
Boom!
Crashing into the ground and forming a small crater, Otto lay there, dazed and disoriented, his vision swimming as he struggled to comprehend what had just happened. The boy was standing over him, his expression unreadable, his eyes cold and calculating. There was no anger in his gaze, no satisfaction—only a calm, almost uninterested expression. It was a look that sent a chill down Otto's spine.
"Where are the children?" Turai asked again, his voice soft but with an underlying steel that promised retribution if Otto didn't answer.
Otto stared up at the boy, his mind racing. He could feel the power radiating off the child, a power that was far beyond anything Otto had ever encountered. This wasn't just some kid. This was something else entirely, something Otto couldn't understand, let alone defeat.
"To hell with you! I'm not saying anything. Even if you kill me here!" Otto tried to silently gather his magic energy again but he failed to understand that Turai was very sensitive to magic energy and fire energy was one of the easiest ones to sense.
"That was a stupid thing to do." Turai sighed, his leg moving in a blur.
Crack!
It connected with Otto's ribcage, shattering it upon impact and sending the man flying and crashing into the walls of the underground area.
"Fuck!" Otto cursed as the pain ate at his consciousness. He couldn't think straight and just when he finally regained his balance, Turai was there again.
"Let's do away with this first, shall we?" Without a response from Otto, Turai dug his hands into Otto's abdomen with lightning speed.
Puuuck!
Blood splattered as Turai's hand pierced his skin and went in deep.
"Arghh!" Otto gritted his teeth from the pain, refusing to give Turai the pleasure of hearing him scream.
"There it is." The moment Otto heard that word, something clicked and immediately, he felt something extremely wrong. His senses blared warnings repeatedly but nothing could be done. Turai had already found what he was after.
"Your origin core would sell for a high price, you know that right?" Turai asked as he wrapped his hand around a small shimmering pearl of magic energy inside Otto's abdomen. Otto's body went cold at the question.
"They won't even know it belonged to a human. No one has to know, right?" Turai asked with a straight face which made the question even more terrifying.
For the first time in his life, Otto felt true fear. As he looked into the boy's eyes, he knew with absolute certainty that he was not going to survive this encounter. The realization hit him like a blow to the chest, leaving him breathless and trembling.
"A gentle pull is all it'll take me to rid you of your core and strip you of every ounce of magic energy in you." Turai gestured with a slight nudge of his hand and Otto held in his breath.
"I can just go ahead to make it slow and filled with excruciating pain and only kill you when I feel like I've had enough of your pleading." Staring daggers into Otto's eyes, Turai spoke with such confidence that Otto's mental walls crumbled.
The prodigy from a small town had finally met a monster from an equally smaller town. This wasn't a battle Otto could win and he was well aware of it.
'I don't want to die!' Otto cried mentally. 'I can't die yet!'
"Down the hall," Otto finally choked out, his voice barely above a whisper. "In the back room… please… spare me…"
But Turai's expression remained cold. He didn't speak, didn't move. Then, with a swift motion, Turai pulled out his bloodied hand and struck Otto across the temple, knocking him unconscious. Otto's world went dark, his last thoughts consumed by the bitter realization that he had been defeated by a mere child.
Turai stood over Otto's prone form for a moment, his mind already shifting to the next task. The battle had been won, but there was still work to be done. "The back room, huh? That's where everyone was running to earlier." Turai sighed as he looked at the mess he'd done to the place along with Otto.
The children were close, and Turai would not stop until they were safe. Without a backward glance at the fallen mage, Turai turned and walked away, disappearing into the shadows of the underground lair, leaving Otto Boomsgath to his fate.
Knowing that he'd defeated the boss of this place, Turai was in no rush to rescue the kids. There wasn't anyone strong enough to face him after all. The only one capable of doing so had just been knocked out cold.
"They better be there or I'll be selling more than just your core," Turai promised Otto who was now a dozen meters away from his location.
Traveling deeper through the area, Turai finally arrived at the room in the back as he'd been told by Otto.
It was a very large room with a large and thick metal door. Simply staring at it, it dwarfed the twelve-year-old boy but he didn't seem bothered. "Doesn't help that much that they're in here."
"Hup!" Turai manipulated his energy to strengthen himself and pushed at the door.
Woonng~
Creeeaaaak~
The door creaked as he pushed it open.
Snap!
He even heard the sound of something breaking and after that, opening it became way easier.
Upon opening the door, Turai found the area workers holed up within the room, each of them too afraid to look at him. No the floor was two large equal pieces of wood, their edges showing they were originally one. Turai had broken it in two in an attempt to open the door.
"Scram!" He commanded and within seconds, every worker had evacuated the room.
His eyes scanned the room for the kids but he found none. Instead, he found another passage that led deeper into an unknown area.
"I'm coming to save you all." Without hesitation, he stepped into the passageway.
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